PAUL COLLIGAN: The #1 Thing You Need to Create Millions In the Digital Age

Hi, everyone. So excited to be here today with you. And my guest is Paul Culligan, who is the expert on all things podcasting. And Paul is actually the one that helps me to get this show, Ali and you, and get my message out to so many people. And I asked Paul to share with you what are some of. What are your success rituals, tips, things that you incorporate on a regular basis to help you reach your goals.

One of the biggest things, and this gets more and more important as the technology gets more and more pervasive, is I set expectations. Really important. I had a friend of mine say, paul, you know something? When I text my friends, I get scared if I don't get an answer back immediately. But when I text you, I know that I won't expect anything for a couple of hours. How did you do that? Well, I set expectations. You know, actually, as I said this, my little watch vibrated. I got a text from someone. They're not going to get that answer for an hour. You know, if it's my family, it'll be sooner, obviously. But what happens is when you set expectations with people, hey, I will get back to you when it makes sense. You've gotten emails from me when I go off grid.

Yeah.

You know, and when I go off grid, I say, I'm going off grid. I'm not going to answer anything if it's truly an emergency.

But you've often said, I'm going off grid. I'm going to be able to. I'm going to be available Friday till noon.

Exactly.

And that's it.

Set expectations.

Yeah.

You know, and then I say, and if there's an emergency, and then I always say something snarky like, and by the way, I don't plan on having emergencies, you know, and I do give an emergency number. So now you know that it's not off grid and everything's scary. It's off grid. If I have to call this number, something happens. You know, we're set up to go. But by setting expectations, you're at an absolute great place. If you answer every time somebody texts you, everybody sometimes sends you an instant message. Somebody fills out a web form. If you responded to me immediately, they. They begin to expect that if you set the expectations. I mean, I don't respond to anything you do immediately, but I respond to everything that you send me.

Right.

And as a result, that's what you get for being a client. But as a result, the flow is there, and what happens is subconsciously, okay, Paul's got my back. He'll answer Me when he's ready.

Well, you're setting boundaries for yourself too, because if you're focused on doing something, getting something done, and you're distracted every time you're pinged, then how are you ever going to get anything?

You're not. You're not. Anybody says they are as lying to themselves first and then usually to everybody else. So set expectations in this tech world is absolutely huge on the iPhone. One of my favorite things, you know, is it the podcast app? Is it the fancy camera? There's a thing on the iPhone called do not disturb. And you can set a time where it turns on do not disturb mode.

And.

And then any text doesn't light up, doesn't vibrate, doesn't do anything, and you can do an override for your family. So, you know, my girls, my wife, my elderly parents, you know, whatever they call comes through, but everybody else, it doesn't. And so when I'm ready in the morning, I lift up my phone and then I see the messages that are in space. But I do it on my terms and my time. I set the microphone. Sorry about that. But that do not disturb tech, that piece of tech is amazing. When I give you. When I give you the emergency phone, that's a virtual phone number that I can send to different people at different times. So whenever I go off grid, I still have an emergency backup plan that works to its fullness. It's awesome.

Yeah. But if you've set the expectation, I'm thinking, well, Paul's away on vacation, so I'm not even gonna exactly gonna reach out. So I think that's important. You know what? I appreciate you sharing that because I think a lot of people are afraid to set boundaries.

Oh, terrified.

You know, it's like you gotta respond so quick. And, you know, I mean, we are there for our clients, but I mean, okay, if you get back in 24 hours, it doesn't have to be in five minutes. Right. And if we're teaching you to reach your goals, you need to have the space to think and the time to accomplish it.

And the tech makes that doable. You know, I talked about do not disturb, one of my favorite things in the world. My best friend, he's pretty much. He's really scared of tech, and he has. He just got a smartphone and he used to hate having a phone because that's how they get ahold of you. See, there's two attitudes to tech. Yes, a phone means they can get a hold of you at any time, but the cell phone also means that you don't have to worry about things. It means that you can get away. You can go a couple blocks on the beach, go for a walk on the beach. You can take a phone call for a walk to the beach. I'm about to get into a cab and jump over to the airport. I've got a conversation I've got to have during that time. It either enables you or it snares you. And it's the same phone, you know, this phone gives me freedom. This phone gives other people slavery. And it's your choice. So make that decision ahead of time, set the expectations. It's huge.

I love that. I love that. Well, we've got so many entrepreneurial nomads now that are traveling around the world too. So in that respect, it gives you freedom because you can work from pretty much anywhere. I love that. Is there anything else that you want to share?

Well, the other thing is in the setting of expectations, set the expectations for yourself as well. So I have this phone with all this memory. It's filled with podcasts, you know, and instead of wasting my time on a sitcom, now I watch tv. Everyone's like everybody else, but by leveraging podcast and leveraging information products and putting on my phone ahead of time, I can now be trained with good stuff. I can become a better person strategically and on purpose by using this tech. You know, I don't have any games on my phone, you know, because if there was a game on my phone, I would play it, you know, and so by not allowing the games on my phone, but having plenty of podcasts and plenty of audiobooks and plenty pieces of training, I can grab 10 minutes here, 15 minutes here, 20 minutes here.

I love that. And so you're more intentional with your time. You're saying, these are the things that I want to listen to so I can grow, be a better business owner, be a better husband, father, whatever.

And then when it's time to go to bed, you know, do not disturb comes on and I get my sleep, you know, when I get the family time. But if there's an emergency, know from the people. And the only people truly allowed to have an emergency at 2 o' clock in the morning are my family.

Right.

So I'm there for them, but nobody else.

Yeah, I won't be calling you at 2:00am I appreciate that. So. Well, this is great. So definitely set your boundaries. Right.

And leverage the tech.

And leverage the tech. And make the best use of your time. Right. I mean, how many football games do you really need to watch? So There you have it. So thank you, Paul Culligan, for sharing your success tips. Until next time, we will see you right back here. See you soon. Bye.